New Era - Sylvia

Bone of contention

New Era Players: Sylvia, at the New Era Theatre, Wash Common, from Thursday, June 14 to Saturday, June 16 and Tuesday, June 19, to Saturday, June 23

Ever-adventurous in the variety of plays chosen, New Era
Players performed perhaps one of their most alternative
plays yet.

Sylvia gave us the overly-familiar tale of modern times
- a couple in Manhattan with kids recently sent off to college; Kate, the
wife, finally getting the time to focus on her teaching career; husband Greg
bored with his job, starts to stray away from his happy 22-year marriage
when, while walking in the park, he meets the playful, energetic and
subservient Sylvia who rekindles a fire in him. All sounds pretty familiar,
right? Right, except for the small difference - Sylvia is a dog!

Sylvia, played creatively and dynamically by Nicola Sowden, presented an
intriguing challenge to the actors, which was met with relish. From the
first scene when Greg arrives back to the flat with Sylvia, the relationship
established was a joy to watch. Both Greg and Kate could speak to Sylvia as
if she was a person, but naturally still spoke to her like she was a dog.
Watching Sylvia being told that she was a good girl, was particularly funny
due to the perfectly mischievous human smugness in her reactions. The human
reactions where then contrasted beautifully with normal doggy behaviour,
such as scratching, yelping, being 'on heat' and of course sniffing other
people's crotches.

With Kate growing more and more frustrated at her husband's increasing
interest in Sylvia (including a full makeover) and decreasing interest in
her job promotion, the first act ended with Sylvia and Kate both on all
fours, declaring "may the best species win".

In the second act, Greg and Sylvia's relationship grew stranger and
stranger. With a fellow dog walker in the park warning him of their ever
growing closeness, the couple seek help from a psychiatrist (Karen Ashby)
who is also eventually broken by the strangeness of Greg's attachment to
Sylvia and tells the couple that they must get rid of her to save their
marriage.

With a really well-designed set and clever music selection this was an
all round strong performance. Sowden naturally stole the show as Sylvia.
David Zeke was excellent as Greg, delivering all lines straightly, despite
the fact he was talking to a dog and Kathleen Ray conveyed Kate's fury and
bewilderment brilliantly until the end when, even though she wouldn't admit
it, she finally got used to Sylvia and was perhaps even glad to have her
around.